Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #7)

This special set (mastered by Ward Marston)- http://www.marstonrecords.com/arrau/arrau_liner.htm

is OOP but there are still copies available, direct from Marston: http://www.marstonrecords.com/html/order.htm

Marston only presses 1000 CDs of each release and when they are gone, they are gone. This one is already going for $175 on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Claudio-Arrau...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1263828136&sr=8-1

If you are interested, I'd buy it today.

 

Agreed. Currently I have a box set which includes most, if not all, of Arrau's Chopin recorded for that label.

 

George, How do you like those Arrau's prewar remastered recordings by Marston? I imagine they are on par with those MOT's reconstructed/remastered recordings by Schnabel and Cortot on Naxos Historical ...

 

BTW, is Philips the record label being phased out by UniversalMusic?

 

You get to hear a much more youthful Arrau, one that many collectors prefer to his later recordings. I am not of that mind as I enjoy both. The sound is as good as can be achieved with these older sources and yes, Marston's work is at least as good as MOT's.

 

Arrau's Chopin Nocturnes on the Philips twofer are some of the best out there IMO ...

 

Indeed.

 

Now playing CD3 from this set ...

 

I heard Arrau in concert back in 1986 at the 92nd St. Y.

 

Any sonic differences between these two releases?

 

Listening to this excellent Symphonie Fantastique (coupled with Le Carnaval Romain) performed by Sir Charles Mackerras & RPO.

 

I never owned the original release so I cannot tell. Maybe George would know.

 

That was certainly quite an experience to attend the performance by a living legend. Did you happen to have attended the last concert by Karajan and the VPO in early 89 at Carnegie Hall, just a few months before Karajan passed away?

 

Swore that I heard both, recall the first digital issue being predictably crunchy and the vinyl overall better save for surface noise, which really matters in this repertoire. I'd place my bet on the two-fer.

 

I caught him at least three times, once back in 1975/76 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion. Arrau substituted Beethoven's tenth sonata on the program with the Les Adieux. Guess it must have been on his mind, he conjured up something intensely romantic, a performance different in every way from his 60's recording on Phillips.

 

Arrau agreed to do a live performance for us when I was at Columbia College back in the early 60s. Prior to the concert, I was one of three undergrads who went to his home in Douglaston for an interview. He was gracious and charming. Talked about his background and training. Performed some excerpts for us. In the middle of his basement studio was a coffee table with a built in glass enclosure. Inside was an original copy of the score to Don Giovanni. He said that, each morning, he opens the case, turns one page and studies it while he has his coffee. He had been through the entire score this way many times but always finds something to inform and elate him for the day.

 

Now playing CD4 from this set ...

 

Now listening to this large-scale account of Symphony No. 1. by Yuri Simonov & RPO. Terrific climaxes remind me Walter's recording.

 

Biddulph

Now playing:

 

Damn that looks nice!

EDIT: just bought it, thanks for the link!

 

Now playing CD1 from this set ...

 

George, Is Biddulph some small English label? Did Ward Marston do some remastering work for that label in the 90's?

 

I am not sure if the two-fer was remastered or not. Sorry.

Now playing:

 

Biddulph

Now playing one of the greatest Schubert Eights ever, from 1928 with Phila. Orch.

 

Now you're just showing off...